Justified fear of ObamaCare

Justified fear of ObamaCare

Supporters of the ObamaCare socialized medicine law passed by Democrats in Congress last year have tried to downplay concerns that the law's rules and fines will harm job creation.

But it is becoming more and more difficult to dismiss those fears in the face of evidence that real-life businesses may very well choose not to expand, rather than be assessed penalties under ObamaCare.

A recent Associated Press article highlighted the likely harm of one ObamaCare rule in particular. The rule states that starting in 2014, employers with more than 50 full-time workers have to begin offering health insurance or else pay a yearly penalty of $2,000 per full-time worker -- excluding their first 30 workers.

The AP reporter talked with the owner of a print shop in New Jersey who currently has 45 employees and would like to hire more. But the thought of having to pay potentially tens of thousands of dollars in ObamaCare fines -- or having to offer insurance that he cannot afford -- is holding him back from hiring the new workers.

"That is a huge cloud," the print shop owner, Joe Olivo, told the AP.

It is not a mere "theory" that ObamaCare's penalty on employers who exceed 50 workers will discourage them from crossing that threshold and creating jobs. It is an all-too-painful reality.